ReducingMobilePageSize

Implementation steps

Focus the topic of a page. Create specific rather than general pages. Mobile users more often look for specific information rather than browse, as compared to desktop users. Therefore, create smaller, more focused pages, which pertain to one specific topic. Whereas a desktop page might present five different sections of information on one topic in one page, a mobile site might present five smaller pages. Example: A sports news site provides coverage of baseball games. The site may present short page presenting the basic facts of the game first, with links to additional pages with commentary, players statistics, and team standings, rather than place all of this information on the first page.

Focus on what mobile users need. Mobile web pages should emphasize information and functionality that users are likely to need while away from their home or office, while using a mobile device. For example, a page about a restaurant would likely focus on facts like address, hours, menu and prices rather than extensive history of the restaurant or chef biographies.

Divide very long pages into multiple pages. One desktop web page may be too large to present to a mobile device as one page. In such cases, one large may be divided into multiple smaller pages, connected by a "Next" link of some kind. Break pages at logical boundaries -- between paragraphs, preferably between sections. How large should individual pages be? Try to determine the device's maximum page size. This will impose an upper bound on page size. Creating pages which are less than 4096 bytes in size is reasonable (comments?). Though research on the topic is conflicting, the group suggests preferring longer pages to shorter ones. That is, present as much text on a page as you expect the target device can handle.